In ramadhan when shaiytaan is locked away why do we still do bad things?

The Shayaa'teen are chained

(An excerpt from a commentary of a lengthy Hadith)

Sheikh ul Hadith Maulana Mohammad Zakariyyah Kandehlawiy (Rahimahullaah Alaihi)


Translation of the part of a similar Hadith as in question,

"… In this month (for them) evil-minded Shaay'taan is chained so as not to reach unto those evils to which they normally reach during other months besides Ramadhaan. On the last nigh of Ramadhaan they are forgiven…"
(Reported by Ahmad, Bazaar and Bayhaqi. Also see Ibn Hibaan's Kitaab-uth-Thawaab and Targheeb)

The fourth favour is that the rebellious Shayaa'teen are chained (detained), as a result of which evil is diminished. One would expect that for the great desire for 'îbâda in the blessed month of Ramadhaan, Shayaa'teen would try just as hard to pull the faithful away from their path so that much more evil would be committed. That is not the case. On the contrary we see so much less evil. How many drunkards do we not see, who just because of the blessed month of Ramadhaan, do not drink. How many other evildoers do we not see casting aside evil just because of the blessed month of Ramadhaan? Committing sins during the month of Ramadhaan does not contradict the meaning of the Hadith, because the Hadith mentions only the rebellious Shayaa'teen. Thus, the sin could be due to the influence of non-rebellious Shayaa'teen. In some Ahaadith the chaining of the Shaay'taan is not qualified but this could be qualified by those Ahaadith in which the rebellious Shayaa'teen are mentioned.

A question may arise here that when the Shayaa'teen are chained, then how is it that we still see evil being committed even though to a lesser degree. Our reply is that evil may not necessarily be cause by the Shayaa'teen. Having for eleven months living in obedience to Shaay'taan's whims and wishes and because of the performance of deeds advised by him becoming second nature to us, evil is done in and out of Ramadhaan. Thus even though Shaay'taan has been chained, his influence in us has become so strong that we follow his path on our own.

Another answer to the question is Rasul Allah (Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said that, "When a person commits a sin, a black spot forms on his heart. When he sincerely repents, it is removed, otherwise it remains. When he again commits a sin another spot is formed until his heart becomes completely black. Thereafter no good can reach his heart." With reference to this Allah says in the Qur'an "By no means, but on their heart is a stain (of the ill)." That their hearts have becomes totally rusted. In this case this heart has a natural inclination towards sin. This is the reason why many fearlessly commit one type of sin, but yet if confronted with another sin of similar magnitude then their hearts repudiate it. Whereas in sin these two misdeeds are equal similarly when these sins are constantly committed out of Ramadhaan the heart is tainted by them, thus resulting in these sins being committed without the presence of Shaay'taan.

My personal opinion (:view of: Sheikh ul Hadith Maulana Mohammad Zakariyyah Kandehlawiy r.a) is that not all Shayaa'teen are chained. Only the most rebellious ones are. All of us can see in Ramadhaan it does not require a great amount of effort and exertion to do good deed. Neither does it require great self control and sacrifice to avoid evil as in other times.

Maulana Shah Ishaaq was of the opinion that for the evil ones only the most rebellious Shayaa'teen are chained whereas for the righteous ones all the Shayaa'teen are chained.